Random: Yesterday, I met a lady named samina. She said it, then spelled it, then said it again. And she almost fell over when I asked her if she was from Greece. Ha! The internet IS good for something. :lol:

Question to the void: What's up with eating fish? I did another of my in-famous potlucks yesterday, and one of my more high-maintenance guests was pescetarian -- basically a vegetarian who also eats fish. (High maintenance but more than worth it. She's a really nice lady who is combating some major health issues and finding her way.)

Anyway, as it turns out, she will eat anything fish -- fish from the supermarket, fish in a can, frozen fish, fish from McDonald's. I get that being a "fishy" lady can really limit your choices, but still ...

I haven't really kept up with fish, but the last I heard, there were MANY cautionary notes out there about fish -- mercury, dolphin, inhumane fish farming, etc. If I were pescetarian, I wouldn't blindly eat any and all fish, just because it's fish. OTOH, fish seems likje a great alternative to the massive amounts of red meat that people here eat.

i've decided to bow out of the thread. i am out of place here, though i have enjoyed much of the discourse.

hope the thread continues to grow...

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It probably won't. Too many agendas.

What I will say is that one time when I went to Europe (I cannot remember which country, because I went to several countries on that trip) I was pregnant. So I bought some gripe water (which is not sold in the US) and brought it home without a problem. I put in in a plastic bag, wrapped it in my clothes, and put it in my suitcase. As it turns out, DS was not a colicky baby, so I never needed to use the gripe water. But I had it. *grin*

Samos is a Greek island...which Sam has already shared was the reason for her name here...Samina is also an Arabic name in other arenas...now we can get back to things that pertain to holistic health for those who have interest

Question to the void: What's up with eating fish? I did another of my in-famous potlucks yesterday, and one of my more high-maintenance guests was pescetarian -- basically a vegetarian who also eats fish. (High maintenance but more than worth it. She's a really nice lady who is combating some major health issues and finding her way.)

Anyway, as it turns out, she will eat anything fish -- fish from the supermarket, fish in a can, frozen fish, fish from McDonald's. I get that being a "fishy" lady can really limit your choices, but still ...

I haven't really kept up with fish, but the last I heard, there were MANY cautionary notes out there about fish -- mercury, dolphin, inhumane fish farming, etc. If I were pescetarian, I wouldn't blindly eat any and all fish, just because it's fish. OTOH, fish seems likje a great alternative to the massive amounts of red meat that people here eat.

Has anybody investigated what's in the fish they eat? Any thoughts?

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I spend a fair bit of the year as a pescatarian. (Every Lent, and usually the month before I compete. It's not unusal for me to cheat occassionally during the later cases.)

Anyways, I DO keep cognizant of my mercury consumption when I'm doing that. I don't go crazy on the albacore and I almost never eat swordfish (which is a shame, since it's so yummy). Farmed catfish, surpisingly enough, is actually a pretty good choice. (In comparison with farmed salmon, that is.)

I also make a point of having a fair number of flat-out vegetarian meals when I'm doing that. Part of that is for health reasons, but I won't lie. Part of it is that seafood is just plain expensive.

I spend a fair bit of the year as a pescatarian. (Every Lent, and usually the month before I compete. It's not unusal for me to cheat occassionally during the later cases.)

Anyways, I DO keep cognizant of my mercury consumption when I'm doing that. I don't go crazy on the albacore and I almost never eat swordfish (which is a shame, since it's so yummy). Farmed catfish, surpisingly enough, is actually a pretty good choice. (In comparison with farmed salmon, that is.)

I also make a point of having a fair number of flat-out vegetarian meals when I'm doing that. Part of that is for health reasons, but I won't lie. Part of it is that seafood is just plain expensive.

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That's cool to know. Does the catfish in the grocery store generally say whether it's farmed or "wild"?

US law mandates that the origin of any food grown or manufactured outside the US must be labelled. Something to do with NAFTA, IIRC. In Texas, because folks are so proud to be Texan, things that are locally grown usually say so. Not sure if that's the case in other states. I've only started noticing it in the past few years, so that might be everywhere. I wouldn't know. It's not required, I don't think. It's just good marketing.

Well my garden beds are well under way. Anyone else gardening? We have two raised bed, 4x8. 4 half barrel containers. 4 rows directly in the ground. And a big tub of some sort husband got from Orschlens that sits on the deck.

Luckily when we moved in this house there was already a big area, about 20x20 that was edged in and filled with mulch and a kids playhouse - swingset in the middle. We uprooted the swingset and sold it on craigslist within 10 minutes. Then we removed all of the mulch and set it aside. Husband built the raised bed frames, my dad gave me two olive barrels which we cut in half. We arranged those and then had good gardening soil/composted maure brought in and dumped. Smoothed that around. Then shoveled the mulch in between for walking.

My indoor seedlings are just about ready to be transplanted. We have tomatos (slicing and cherry), cucumbers, strawberries, peppers, watermelon, rosemary, basil, parsley, asparagus, a few different leaf lettuce.